Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Fortrea Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FTRE)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $15.14, but opened at $16.11. Fortrea shares last traded at $16.05, with a volume of 511,614 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTRE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush set a $21.00 target price on shares of Fortrea in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho set a $11.00 target price on Fortrea in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on Fortrea from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Fortrea in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Fortrea from $7.00 to $9.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.50.

Fortrea Stock Up 5.7%

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.42. The company has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.42, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Fortrea (NASDAQ:FTRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.04). Fortrea had a positive return on equity of 5.64% and a negative net margin of 36.77%.The company had revenue of $701.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $643.43 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Fortrea Holdings Inc. will post 0.51 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amalgamated Bank lifted its position in Fortrea by 4.0% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 26,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of Fortrea by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 6,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 1,109 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in shares of Fortrea by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 23,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 1,769 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fortrea by 1.0% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 176,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $870,000 after buying an additional 1,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Fortrea by 12.8% during the second quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 16,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 1,827 shares during the period.

About Fortrea

Fortrea Holdings Inc, a contract research organization, primarily engages in the provision of biopharmaceutical product and medical device development services worldwide. The company operates through two segments: Clinical Services and Enabling Services. The Clinical Services segment provides across the clinical pharmacology and clinical development spectrum.